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Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:53 am

by ScottieBell

Thought I would go ahead and start a project thread finally on my 76 2+2. I had been working on an 81 Malibu for some time, never got past body work, so it needed everything and was probably 3 years out of being ready for street/strip activities. Met a guy at a cruise in, said he was looking for one, and he had a clean Monza he was looking to trade. I Love Vegas and Monzas, well pintos and gremlins too, but I’m a chevy guy.

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He looked at my car, it was super straight as I had been doing body work on it for about a year whenever I had the time. He wanted it, and me and my little guy head out to his place about an hour and a half away to see his car. I liked the car, it looked pretty good, and my boy liked it too, so we made a deal. I originally told him that the drag star wheels didn’t go with the car, but he swore up and down they wouldn’t fit right on the Monza if I wanted to tuck the tires in the wheel wells. Well, that was a lie, they were exactly the right size wheel and tire for the rears to tuck, but you live and you learn. He gave me a set of weld wheels in trade for the ones that “wouldn’t Fit”. I wanted the Monza really bad, so I looked right past giving him my wheels. Dumbass I am.Got the car home, washed it as it was covered with dirt and threw on the new wheels. Already made a huge difference in the look. I borrowed a buddies extra 275x60 and weld wheel to see if I could use that size, but the tire was way to close for comfort, so it’s going to be a 255 when the time comes. It also had the 5 lug swap done. S10 axles, an auburn posi unit, and 3:73 gears. S10 spindles and brakes. I was pretty happy about that. Swapping the wheels, it has monza spindles, with drilled monza rotors for 5 lug. Dumbass.

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Same guy I got the car from, is an engine builder. He had a healthy 355 for sale he was going to put back in the car, that he said he’d hook me up with at a good deal. It was a good deal, so I picked it up. The motor I was going to put in it was a 13 to 1 364 I had in the corner of my garage I was running on the street in my S10. I wanted to be able to run this car on pump gas, and the deal he gave me for the fresh 355 was cheaper than what I would have spent on going through the other motor to make it gas friendly. The next weekend, it was time to install the motor, with the help from my 4 yo of course. He’s a good little worker.

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Car sounded nasty, and ran pretty hard up the street for test run. The specs on the motor were, .030 over 350 4 bolt main, forged TRW 10 to 1 flat top pistons, decent cam, camelback heads with 7/16 screw in studs, 2.02’s and 1.60’s. Registered the car, and drove it to work for the first time. Went good on the way. Driving home, it spun a couple rod bearings. Tore it down, found it had cast pistons, .060 over not .030. Had it towed home for 170.00 bucks, called him up and he told me I must have spun the motor to high. Also said he never told me anything about what the motor had in it, but he feels bad so he’ll go back through the bottom end for free so I get back up and running. We don’t get along to good now….

Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:04 am

by ScottieBell

I have a hard time leaving things alone when they’re just sitting, so, body work had begun. Its about ready for a few coats of 2K primer, a wet sand and some paint. I’m not a professional body guy, so it takes me forever, plus I only work on it when I have an hour here or an hour there. Should look pretty good. I believe it will be painted electric lime green, its what my boys want, and I like the color.

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Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:16 am

by ScottieBell

That brings me to the interior issue. The guy had the entire interior, including the steering wheel covered in blue tweed. It is absolutely hideous, so I’ve been pulling pieces out, and stripping them. I’m going to need to find some new to me pieces when I can. The uncovered parts leave a lot to be desired. Guess what that guy did to the interior of my old Malibu. Yep, tweed. Everything is tweed covered.

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Put a pro ratchet shifter in under the console, and gauged in the gaping hole in the dash panel. I’m going to need to find a new one of those too, as I don’t like the panel being broken.

Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:32 am

by ScottieBell

The Shifter Pic.

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Couple Random Bodywork Pics.

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And the Malibu

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Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:39 am

by ScottieBell

When it was moving under it's own power.

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Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 2:06 am

by monzaaddict

don't use a high volume oil pump with a stock monza oil pan it will suck it dry.

Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 8:48 pm

by dualtech62

Wow!! tweed Gonna be a super cool car when you get it sorted!

Re: Scotties Monza "AGIT8ED"

Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:25 pm

by ScottieBell

So, It's been forever and much has happened to this little car. Bodywork is about done. My plan is to paint it that new Ford Fusion Blue Candy. Has all new wheels and Tires which are Hoosier Quick Time Pros, and new matching weld draglites. The old wheels were Fakes. The big news for me is I have about completed my LS swap in the car. All I have left to do is purge the cooling system, run new tranny lines and build some steering around the header. If anyone tells you, Just throw an LS in it, it's not that expensive, DO NOT LISTEN. This was ridiculously expensive, and I tried getting the best deal i could on everything i bought. If my wife found out how much I've put on my credit card, she'd stab me with her wine opener. I need to install some 4 cylinder, non a/c springs which i purchased. I dropped about 205 or so pounds off the front end, and the original V8 springs are killing me. LOL. Needs to be a bit lower in the front. Here's a couple pics of how the little guy is sitting. I tried to post a video of the car running, It sounds nasty as hell, but it won't post.